Striking a match between social justice artivism and oppositional cultural practice

Resistimos : création de bannières / banner creation (PERFORMANCE)

The final design for the banner produced in Parque André Jarlan in Santiago de Chile

RESISTIMOS is an in situ banner-making performance I did in Santiago de Chile in July 2016 to express my solidarity with the Chilean student movement and their fight for a public, free and quality education for everyone. It was scheduled within the Resistance in Urban Peripheries, Street Art-Action segment of Encuentro: eX-céntrico: dissidence, sovereignties, performance. I was one of seven consecutive performances that lead spectators through the streets of La Población La Victoria, Chile’s first urban land occupation to create an alternative neighbourhood that actively resisted the dictatorship. It will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2017. Thanks to Ana María Saavedra – Luis Alarcón of Galería Metropolitana who organized the ruta.

The performative project began with the banner’s creation on July 21 in Parque André Jarlan. Abrazos to Danny Reveco & Jorge Gerra Leiva for their collaboration with its creation. The project then continued the following day with the exhibit of the banner and the rereading of my solidarity manifesto at the Centro cultural Gabriel Mistral (GAM) in central Santiago. The project ended when I gave the banner to striking students at UTEM Marcul, with whom I hung it from the facade of the library building of the campus that was “en toma’ or taken by the students. The banner drop at a university brought the project to its successful completion. The banner is now part of the Chilean student movement’s (and my own) oppositional cultural heritage. The fist image is sampled from protest sign “Printemps Érable” designed by L’École de la montagne rouge for the 22 march 2012 student demonstration in Montréal.

This banner will also be displayed because it represents common struggles that transcend borders. In this photo, it was reused during a vigil against mass arrests under municipal by-law P-6, Montréal – March 29 mars 2013. photo : Thien V.

The 10ft x 6 ft banner, RESISTIMOS is signed La Brigada MTL. The signature’s name is inspired by Chilean Communist/political activist collective, “La Brigada Chacón”. As seasonned media activists, they paste Papelográfo: long rolls of paper onto the walls of Santiago de Chile. The began after Pinochet’s coup in 1973 to criticise the dictatorship. Each week they painted (and they continue today) a slogan in large capital letters in a variety of sites around Santiago. A 2008 article in Le Tigre by Antonia Garcia Castro introduced me to La Brigada Chacón.